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This policy brief examines the development of railway infrastructure in Ethiopia, comparing the Chinese-funded Addis Ababa-Djibouti standard gauge railway (SGR) with the Turkish-built Awash-Kombolcha-Hara Gebeya/Weldiya (AKH) line. It analyzes the trade-offs between different financing models, the effectiveness of technology transfer and capacity building, and the role of Ethiopian government agency in project design.

The G20 Energy Access Action Plan focuses its first phase on improving electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 620 million people lack power. The plan proposes six key areas for collaboration: policy and regulatory environments, technology deployment, investment and finance, capacity building, regional integration, and coordination. It emphasizes a flexible, voluntary approach that respects national sovereignty over energy mixes. The document also compiles 'good practice' case studies from G20 members—including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, and Turkey—and details specific international development projects in Africa led by the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, as well as the African Union's Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility.

The report argues that Africa has a significant opportunity to transition from a 'pit-to-port' resource extraction model to a green industrialization strategy focused on solar PV, batteries, and electric vehicles. It highlights that while Africa holds approximately 30% of the world's essential transition mineral reserves, it lacks investment in manufacturing, with most clean-tech imports originating from G20 countries, particularly China. The document proposes a G20 Action Plan involving a financing roadmap, a dedicated partnerships platform, and reforms to international trade and technology access norms to enable African countries to build competitive local value chains and create millions of green jobs.

The Republic of Armenia's Third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) for 2026-2035 outlines economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets and comprehensive adaptation strategies to address high climate vulnerability in a landlocked, mountainous region.

The document outlines a comprehensive set of demands from Latin American and Caribbean civil society for the COP30 Presidency, focusing on increasing NDC ambition, scaling adaptation and loss and damage financing, reforming the global financial system, and ensuring a multidimensional just transition. It emphasizes the need for the 'Global Mutirão' to be informed by Southern perspectives and calls for a clear timeline for phasing out fossil fuels.

A coalition of 82 civil society organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean urges the COP30 Presidency to move beyond declarative statements toward an integrated framework of accountability. The letter demands ambitious NDC 3.0 submissions from G20 and major emitting nations, a roadmap to mobilize USD 1.3 trillion annually by 2035, and a precise phase-out date for fossil fuels. It emphasizes the need for a transformative adaptation agenda, the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Response Fund, and the integration of climate and biodiversity governance through the Rio Conventions.

The report argues that MDBs fail to deliver genuine climate finance due to flawed accounting methodologies that allow fossil fuel-related projects, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and waste-to-energy incineration, to be counted as climate action. It highlights a systemic bias toward mitigation over adaptation and a preference for loans over grants, which exacerbates debt in the Global South. Specific analysis of the AIIB and ADB reveals transparency gaps, the inclusion of high-emitting projects in climate portfolios, and a failure to integrate gender equality and human rights into climate finance principles.

The document identifies a significant global trend toward expanding coal-fired power capacity, with 1,199 new plants proposed across 59 countries. China and India are the primary drivers of this expansion, accounting for 76% of proposed new capacities. The analysis also highlights a shift in the global coal trade from Atlantic to Pacific markets, prompting infrastructure expansions in countries like Australia.

The document introduces Aqueduct 4.0, a framework by the World Resources Institute that translates complex hydrological data into 13 water risk indicators covering quantity, quality, and reputational concerns. Using the PCR-GLOBWB 2 model and CMIP6 climate forcings, the framework projects water conditions for 2030, 2050, and 2080 under three scenarios. Findings indicate that 25 countries are currently exposed to extremely high annual water stress, and by 2050, $70 trillion in GDP (31% of global GDP) will be exposed to high water stress, with India, Mexico, Egypt, and Turkey accounting for over half of that figure.

The transport sector accounts for 24% of global CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, with road transport comprising nearly three-quarters of that total. To limit global warming to 1.5 °C, the IPCC projects the transport sector must be zero-emission by 2050. WRI employs a systems-thinking approach to decarbonization, focusing on eight key areas: clean energy integration, roadmapping and policy, fleet electrification, sustainable e-mobility, integrated climate planning, equitable transition, consumer behavior, and sustainable materials. WRI's global team of over 100 experts provides research, implementation support, and stakeholder coordination to ensure the transition enhances social equity and minimizes ecological damage.

The WRI Results Framework establishes a structured system to plan and evaluate programmatic progress across three primary human systems: food, land & water; energy; and cities. It sets specific global targets for 2030 and WRI intervention targets for 2027, focusing on outcomes such as reducing agricultural land demand by 100 Mha, increasing the share of zero-carbon electricity by 9% in target geographies, and improving urban climate resilience. The framework integrates Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and utilizes a tiered approach of global, intervention, and country-specific targets, supported by impact indicators for people, nature, and climate.

The WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities employs an integrated approach combining data-driven research and long-term city partnerships to address urban challenges in land use, mobility, and energy efficiency. The organization focuses on the global south, implementing projects such as low-emission zones in Beijing, sustainable housing standards in Brazil, and last-mile mobility solutions in Bengaluru. Its strategy emphasizes scaling road-tested solutions through national policy guidance and global coalitions to help cities decarbonize and improve equitable access to core services.

The document outlines the challenges of modern urbanization, particularly in the global South, where rapid population growth coincides with low per capita resources. It argues that providing equitable access to core services—such as housing, water, sanitation, energy, and transportation—is essential to avoid cycles of poverty and environmental degradation and to unlock economic productivity.

The report assesses G20 countries' efforts to meet their Paris Agreement commitments, noting that while all have taken concrete actions, progress and ambition vary. Key highlights include India's aggressive solar targets, China's integration of environmental stewardship into its 13th Five-Year Plan, and Indonesia's peatland restoration efforts. However, challenges remain, such as Turkey's planned expansion of coal power and Saudi Arabia's lack of a formal 2030 GHG target.

A joint letter from a broad coalition of scientists, policy experts, and organizations calling for COP31 to be a 'Blue COP' by mainstreaming ocean-climate action across all agenda items, negotiation texts, and finance mechanisms.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is implementing a 2023-2027 strategy to drive systemic change across three human-centered systems: Cities, Energy, and Food, Land & Water. WRI Europe Stichting serves as the regional representative in Europe, leveraging the region's financial and research hubs to pilot sustainable practices and mobilize funding. The organization utilizes a framework of Global Impact Targets, WRI Impact Targets, and Country-Level Targets to measure success, aligned with the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals. WRI Europe Stichting's financial report for the 2024/2025 period shows a total income of EUR 17,360,351 and a result for the year of EUR 153,834.

The document explains the methodology of 'extreme event attribution' to help journalists avoid common errors, such as ignoring climate change or attributing an event to it as a sole cause. It details how scientists use climate models to compare the modern world with a pre-industrial one to determine if an event was more likely or intense due to global warming. The guide provides specific scientific consensus and limitations for heatwaves, floods, tropical cyclones, heavy snowfall, droughts, and wildfires, emphasizing that while some connections are robust (e.g., heatwaves), others are more complex and depend on regional data and human vulnerability.

The document explains how 'attribution' studies determine if global warming increased the likelihood or intensity of a specific extreme weather event. It warns journalists against three common errors: ignoring climate change, claiming it caused an event without evidence, or treating it as the sole cause. The guide provides specific findings for heatwaves, floods, tropical cyclones, heavy snowfall, droughts, and wildfires, noting that while heatwaves are globally linked to warming, other phenomena like droughts and floods vary significantly by region.

The document explains the science of 'extreme event attribution,' which calculates how much climate change increases the probability or intensity of specific weather events. It warns journalists against three common errors: ignoring climate links, asserting links without evidence, or citing climate change as the sole cause. The guide provides specific scientific consensus and attribution examples for heatwaves, floods, tropical cyclones, heavy snow, droughts, and wildfires, emphasizing that while some events (like heatwaves) have a very strong global link to warming, others (like droughts or cyclones) are more complex and vary by region.

The document identifies tigers as unsuitable pets due to their endangered status, the illegality of private ownership in the US, and the physical danger they pose to humans. It notes that the high number of tigers in US captivity exceeds the global wild population, hindering recovery efforts.